Posts Tagged: "custom"

Do you have Hamilton fever? I haven’t seen the musical yet, but I’m obsessed with the soundtrack.

I have my niece, J’menii, to thank for getting me hooked on Hamilton.

This same young lady has a thing for Converse sneakers. I’m not exaggerating when I say she has more than 10 pairs of Converse shoes in her closet. All colors. The girl even wore a pair with her formal dress to high school prom!

J’menii is graduating from high school this year so I decided on a graduation gift that combined her two obsessions and I ended up with Hamilton-themed Custom Painted Converse Shoes!

Custom Hand Painted Shoes

For the shoes, I had an artist paint them gold and black with a couple of logos. Then I had the artist paint phrases from the musical to inspire my niece to kick butt in college and to achieve her goals in life!

The outside right shoe features the Hamilton logo with the words “I’m not throwing away my shot.” The outside left shoe features a silhouette of the Schuyler sisters with the words “Rise Up.”

The inside left shoe reads, “There’s a million things I haven’t done.” The inside right shoe reads “Just you wait…”

Because they spend so much of their time picking up toys off the floor. Again and again and again.

Someone has to pick up those 50 Hot Wheels cars and those 150 pieces of Mega Bloks. Yes, I make my kids help me a lot of the time but sometimes it’s just faster and easier to do it myself.

Toy baskets make it easy for parents (and kids) to clean up from room to room and the pretty baskets make cute storage space.

Their open top makes it simple to take things in and out, and they’re light enough even the kids can move them around. They can be filled with anything from large wooden toys to soft stuffed animals. They are just so convenient!

Life with children is a beautiful mess and toy baskets make it cleaner and more organized.

DIY Personalized Toy Basket

A gift I like to give for baby showers and kids’ birthdays is a Personalized Toy Basket with a child’s name on it. I make them myself and you can too!

For me, one of my favorite parts of having children is picking baby names.

Boy did I have fun with it! Especially with my sons’ middle names.

My oldest son, Aiden, was born in 2012 during the Year of the Dragon so his middle name became Dragen. For my youngest son, Axl, I picked King because dragons and kings always appear together in stories… and it’s just sounds cool!

Keepsake Ornament Christmas Gift

I believe every kid should have their own special ornament on the Christmas tree so for both of my boys I gave them Namesake Keepsake Ornaments.

Hanging on our Christmas tree is a dragon ornament for Aiden and a crown ornament for Axl.

Years ago, my sister, Julia, and her family moved to the East coast away from her parents and siblings.

It’s tough living far apart from family, but especially hard when someone has young children. Finding child care is harder, and holidays can be a bit more lonely.

My sister though experienced tremendous luck! She found an older woman in her neighborhood who ran a small in-home day care. “Miss Pat” has cared for my sister’s three daughters for 14 years now, and they have a very special bond with her.

She loves those girls like her own granddaughters, and they love her like a grandmother.

“Miss Pat” and her husband “Mister Pete” have become family.

Custom Photo Blanket

For Miss Pat’s birthday this year, my sister gave her a custom fleece photo blanket with a beautiful collage of her three daughters and Miss Pat.

The photos printed really well and show how much the girls have grown up since Miss Pat has known them. So many cherished memories gathered all in one place!

Miss Pat can literally wrap the girls around her any time, day or night! Continue Reading

A individual’s name is near and dear to its owner’s heart. For children, especially so since they love learning the letters that spell their name.

The authors of the Lostmy.name books figured that out and created a magical story based on the letters of a child’s name.

When a boy/girl wakes up to find his/her name missing, he/she must go on an adventure to find it. Every story is different since it is based on the letters in a child’s name. For example, my son Aiden’s book has him meeting an Aardvark, an Imp, a Dragon, an Elephant, and a Narwhal.

Unique, Personalized Story Book

When creating a Lostmy.name personalized book to give as a gift, you can choose from the titles “The Little Boy Who Lost His Name” or “The Little Girl Who Lost Her Name.”

When I visit my sister’s family, I always like to give my three nieces the gift of a new experience.

Now that my oldest niece is 16 and I have a four-year old son, I needed to come up with an experience that teenagers AND young children would enjoy. That’s a little tough, but I came up with the perfect idea! Adults will enjoy it too!

I took everyone to a paint your own pottery studio where each of us picked out an unfinished ceramic pottery to paint.

The studio had a TON of choices and to inspire customers it displayed examples of what the final painted products could look like.

Ceramic Pottery

I picked out a Christmas sweater platter, and my son picked out a dinosaur. My sister picked out a Christmas mug, while her 16-year old niece picked out a jar. My 13-year old niece picked out a turtle shaped container, and my nine-year old niece picked out a Hello Kitty figurine. See! Something for everyone!

The pottery studio provided all of the painting supplies, glazing and firing. All we needed to do was unleash our creativity!